


stories from the practice room

by hyunhoist



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crush at First Sight, Fluff, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, but like ... not, dance major Minho, dance major hyunjin, hyunjin admires minho from afar, hyunjin be kinda oblivious, it's pretty cute, kinda like 5+1, minho thinks hyunjin is cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:55:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22098286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyunhoist/pseuds/hyunhoist
Summary: just two dance majors falling in love in their university's dance building
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Felix, Hwang Hyunjin & Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Kim Seungmin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 252





	stories from the practice room

**Author's Note:**

> hello! here is some fluffy hyunho because stayo3 definitely needs more of it!!
> 
> things to consider while reading: i started this on new year's while i was tipsy, i am posting this at 4:30 in the morning with no sleep, it is very unedited
> 
> and thank you so much in advance for taking the time to read this, feel free to comment literally anything, i'd love to see what y'all think!!

**1**

“Shit,” Felix mumbles to himself, stopping in the middle of the dance as he catches a glimpse of the clock hanging just above the door of the practice room that Hyunjin reserved for the two of them. Hyunjin watches him quizzically, not stopping until he realizes that Felix is now staring at him with his infamous puppy dog eyes.

“What, Lix?” Hyunjin asks with a raised eyebrow.

“The thing is…” Felix starts. Hyunjin motions for him to continue. “Before you booked the practice room I promised Sung I would help him study tonight and I said I would be there at seven and I really meant to tell you beforehand, but it kept slipping my mind.” Hyunjin glances over at the same clock Felix caught sight of. It reads 6:47. “I know he wouldn’t be mad at me if I canceled, but I know how much this exam means to him and he’s really struggling and he would never tell me that but trust me, I kno-”

“Felix, it’s fine.” Hyunjin cuts him off before he rambles until seven o’clock. “We still have time, I’ll just stay and work on coming up with some more choreography. We can clean and make changes next time.”

Felix lunges forward and pulls his friend into a hug as soon as he finishes speaking. Hyunjin cringes at the amount of sweat that gets transferred between the two. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I seriously owe you my life.”

“I’ll remember that.” Hyunjin teases and Felix runs off to the corner of the room to collect his belongings. He doesn’t even spare a minute to pull his coat back on before he’s scurrying out of the room, dialing his boyfriend’s number.

“Hey, Sung? I’m gonna be a little late, do you want me to get you any coffee?” Felix offers through the phone. He throws one last wave to Hyunjin and exits the practice room, closing the door behind him.

Hyunjin considers leaving and working on the rest of the choreography in the comfort of his own apartment, but it only takes him half a minute to veto the idea. He has a poor habit of saying he’ll do things when he gets to his apartment but always ends up playing video games or watching Netflix with his roommate instead.

So with that idea vetoed, Hyunjin lets a sigh escape past his lips as he continues to work on their choreography. He actually doesn’t mind that Felix left earlier than expected. Hyunjin loves to choreograph and feels that he does his best work when he’s alone.

From a young age, Hyunjin knew that he possessed a fiery passion for dancing. His mother likes to say that Hyunjin started dancing before he could even walk. He stopped doubting it when he saw the video of his first steps that his mother always loves to show off. He can’t blame her, though, it is pretty entertaining to watch baby Hyunjin dance and bounce his way over to his father.

Hyunjin has taken just about every dance class you could think of. Ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, you name it. His parents thought it would be difficult to find a style of dance that Hyunjin would love, but it proved to be harder to find one that he didn’t.

He started choreographing at the young age of 14. Ask his mother, she’ll tell you it was an absolutely beautiful piece. Ask Hyunjin, he’ll tell you it’s exactly what you would expect from an inexperienced teenage choreographer; a lot of unnatural movements and a lot of cliches.

It makes him happy that he can confidently say he’s a much better choreographer now. He’s in a choreography class now and every other week he’s faced with a new person from his class that he has never spoken to asking if they can work together on their assignment.

Hyunjin is good at what he does, he’s aware of it. Which is exactly why he turns down his peers every time to work with his friends instead.

Hyunjin doesn’t check the clock again until he feels tired. This time it reads 11:23. It’s not surprising to him that he managed to let nearly five more hours slip away.

He reaches down to grab the bottom edge of his tank top and pulls it up to wipe the sweat dripping from his face. It’s a little earlier than usual but he really doesn’t think he’ll be able to get anything else done, so he decides to call it a night.

With his feet dragging lazily against the floor, Hyunjin makes his way over to the corner where he dropped his bag when he first arrived with his friend earlier in the day. The first thing he does is finishes off his water bottle. Then, he grabs his towel from the floor and begins dabbing away his sweat.

He makes a mental note to shower _really_ well tonight.

After tucking his towel away in his dance bag, he shrugs on his jacket and zips it up. He picks his bag up from the floor and throws it on his shoulder.

On his way out, he makes sure to click the lights off even though he knows they’re motion-censored and they’ll turn off on their own in thirty minutes.

He walks to the elevator that’s located in the middle of the short hallway. Hyunjin always found the dance building at his college to be a bit odd. There were five floors. The first, fourth and fifth floors were all practice rooms. The second and third floors were classrooms. Apparently, it’s because the building used to only have two floors, so when the school added on they decided to keep the classrooms together and put the rest of the practice rooms up top.

However, the fifth floor was Hyunjin’s favorite place to practice. Yes, sometimes the elevators were out of order and he had to take the stairs, but there were only four practice rooms on the top level and they were bigger than the other ones. You win some, you lose some.

When the elevator dings to announce it’s arrival to the first floor, Hyunjin steps out. He struggles with his bag, trying to pull out his keys before he can’t see anything during his walk in the dark.

He hears muffled music as he continues walking down the hall towards the door. That’s strange, he thinks. There’s not usually a lot of people still around whenever Hyunjin leaves the dance building this late.

On his way to the door, he pauses when he finds the room that the muffled music is coming from. He catches a glimpse of the boy occupying the practice room by himself.

The walls lining the hallway of all of the practice rooms on the first floor are windows. These rooms were typically used for assessments throughout the year, so anyone could stop by to support their favorite dance student. They were also equipped with blinds, however, so dancers could also have their privacy if they were practicing alone or didn’t want anyone to watch their rehearsal.

This dancer didn’t have his blinds closed.

Hyunjin assumed it would be fine to stop and watch. He probably wouldn’t notice anyway.

The boy in the practice room was so focused on his reflection like he was trying to pinpoint even the slightest error. Hyunjin couldn’t find any. Maybe that’s why the boy never stopped.

Hyunjin practically grew up in dance studios. He’s seen a lot of dancers, but somehow this boy was just different. Even different from Hyunjin.

Hyunjin was good. Hyunjin was _amazing_. He was a diverse dancer, he had the technique, he had the musicality.

But this boy, he seemed to have it all and even more. He had what Hyunjin wanted. Every move had a purpose. People always told Hyunjin that he made dancing look so easy, but he never believed it. It’s not that dancing is hard for him, he just gives his everything every time that he performs.

While watching the stranger in the practice room, though, he begins to understand a bit better. Hyunjin can feel his energy, his passion. It radiates around the boy and reaches Hyunjin, who isn’t even in the room. Somehow, it still looks easy.

The music stops and the boy turns around abruptly, meeting eyes with Hyunjin. He doesn’t even flinch when he realizes someone’s been watching him.

Confidence.

Something else Hyunjin wanted.

There was no reason for him to shy away, the other boy didn’t seem bothered about being watched. Hyunjin still found himself stumbling over his feet as he backed away from the glass, though.

The music starts up again and the boy turns to face the mirror, beginning his harsh internal self-assessment once again.

Hyunjin doesn’t even have time to think about how long he might be staying there by himself because before he knows it he’s speed walking out of the dance building.

And he doesn’t notice the way the boy’s gaze follows his exit through the mirror.

**1.5**

It’s two days later when Hyunjin joins Jisung for lunch. Jisung forgot his card at his apartment and Felix is stuck in class, so Hyunjin agrees to meet him to eat lunch (and pay for it).

“You and Lix have your performance soon, right?” Jisung questions, poking his straw through the lid of his plastic cup.

“Yeah, next Friday.”

“I think I’m gonna try to come watch,” the blonde boy speaks.

“You should,” Hyunjin agrees with a shrug. He takes the lid off of his salad after shaking it up to mix the dressing. “Come support your boyfriend, I’m sure he’d love to see you.”

“Felix always loves to see me,” Jisung jokes and looks across the dining hall just in time to catch someone waving at him. He immediately perks up and throws his hand in the air to wave back. Hyunjin glances over his shoulder to see who his friend was waving at.

And _shit_. Of course, it would be the boy from the dance building. Who else would it be?

Hyunjin turns his body back around, hoping the boy didn’t realize who he was. “You know him?”

“Who, Minho?” Jisung asks and Hyunjin nods in response. He looks over again in the direction where the boy, Minho, was just standing. Hyunjin is in his head praying that he doesn’t come over. “We worked together on a project last semester. Music students produced a song and dance students made a performance, it was pretty cool.”

“Oh,” is the only thing that Hyunjin can force himself to say.

This world is much too small, he thinks.

**2**

It’s not until Tuesday that Hyunjin and Felix meet up to rehearse again.

Hyunjin arrives at the dance building early, as usual. He likes to have time to stretch and warm up properly, and Felix is coming from his dance class so he’ll already be warmed up.

When he’s making his way towards the elevator, he spots Minho practicing once again. The blinds are wide open again, allowing anyone to watch him if they wanted to. Hyunjin, personally, would never be comfortable with leaving the blinds open during this time of day. There's an abundance of classes and all of the normal people come to use the practice rooms before it gets too late in the day.

Hyunjin reckons at least a hundred people walk by this practice room within an hour, but it doesn’t seem to bother Minho at all.

Confidence, Hyunjin thinks to himself.

This time Hyunjin takes a few steps back before he continues watching. He’s pretty sure he’s out of Minho’s line of sight, so they shouldn’t share another awkward moment.

He wonders how long Minho has been dancing and if he’s anything like Hyunjin. The younger boy really thinks Minho is a wonderful dancer. It’s likely that he’s been dancing as long as Hyunjin, if not longer.

“What are you doing?” A voice asks from behind Hyunjin and he jumps slightly from the shock.

Hyunjin turns around and sees Changbin standing with a smug smile on his face.

Seo Changbin. Hyunjin wouldn’t say that they’re friends. Probably more like acquaintances. He was good friends with Jisung, though. They were both majoring in music, so they helped each other out a lot. Changbin does hang around with Jisung and Felix quite often, so that’s how Hyunjin became friends with him eventually.

“I’m just,” Hyunjin begins, leaning his back against the wall he was just hiding behind, “just hanging out. This is the dance building, I’m a dance major. I just like to hang.”

Changbin nods slowly, obviously not buying it. “Well, I brought my friend lunch. You should come say hi to him,” Changbin offers, reaching down to grab Hyunjin’s hand and pull him towards the practice room.

“Wait, him?” Hyunjin points into the room and plants his feet on the ground, stopping Changbin in his steps.

The older boy snorts, tugging at Hyunjin’s hand again. “Yeah, him. Obviously, you like his dancing, so I can introduce you guys.” Hyunjin soon realizes that Changbin is much stronger than he expected. His protests are ignored as he’s dragged into the practice room.

Minho immediately looks over at the door, smiling brightly when he sees Changbin. “Hey, I thought you had class right now.”

“My professor canceled, so I brought lunch,” Changbin explains, walking further into the room and waving the bag of food around. “And a friend.”

Minho looks over at Hyunjin and offers another kind smile. “Hello, friend.”

When Hyunjin doesn’t respond, Changbin rolls his eyes slightly. “His name’s Hyunjin,” he introduces for the younger boy and makes himself comfortable on the floor, “he’s shy.”

“Well, Hyunjin,” Minho begins, putting a bit of emphasis on his name. Hyunjin ignores the way his heartbeat increases slightly. “You can join us for lunch if you’d like.”

“I brought plenty of food, I know how hungry Min can get when he’s dancing.” Changbin pipes in.

“Uh, I-I’d love to,” Hyunjin stumbles over his words and mentally slaps himself for making such a weak first impression, “but I have to go meet my friend to work on a performance.”

“Ah, well maybe next time, yeah?” Minho offers and Hyunjin nods.

“Yeah, definitely.”

Hyunjin doesn’t even leave time for either of the boys to respond before he’s turning on his heels to exit the room.

“Thank you, Binnie!” Hyunjin hears as he leaves, and when he turns around to shut the door behind him he finds Changbin and Minho in a tangled mess of limbs on the floor. From the looks of it, Minho must’ve attacked him with a hug and the two of them were laughing together.

Hyunjin asks himself if they’re dating, but quickly shakes the thought away. It didn’t matter and it was none of his business, to be honest. So without sparing a second glance into the practice room, he leaves to go to his rehearsal with Felix.

**2.5**

“It’s movie night!” Jisung shouts as he enters Hyunjin’s apartment, fingers intertwined with Felix’s. They had a movie night every other week, but Jisung always got way too excited about it.

Seungmin, Hyunjin’s roommate, comes out from his room when he hears the commotion. “What are we watching tonight?”

Jisung groans as Seungmin exits his room. “If you’re doing movie night with us, you’re not allowed to ruin it with all your nerdy film talk.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know, some people find my nerdy film talk cute.”

“Yeah, Jeongin doesn’t really count. You guys are still in the honeymoon phase, he thinks everything you do is cute.”

Seungmin pouts at Jisung’s snarkiness. “Fine, no nerdy film talk.” He promises and finds a seat on the couch.

Jisung and Felix walk over to the couch as well. Felix takes a seat on the couch and Jisung sits between his legs. He lays his head back between Felix’s thighs, pouting slightly. Felix doesn’t even need Jisung to verbalize what he wants, he immediately begins running his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair.

“I hope you all settled the whole nerdy film talk thing without me,” Hyunjin speaks as he exits the kitchen with two bowls of popcorn in hand. He gives one to Jisung and keeps the other one for himself.

He settles into the spot next to Seungmin on the couch as Seungmin begins scrolling through Netflix for a movie. “Tell me to stop if you see anything interesting.” Everyone hums in agreement.

Seungmin continues to scroll through movies for a few minutes before Hyunjin finally speaks up. “Hey, Sung?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Jisung responds, laying his head between Felix’s thighs again to look up at Hyunjin.

Hyunjin hesitates for a moment. “You’re good friends with Changbin, right?”

“Yeah,” Jisung stretches the word out questioningly.

“Is he dating anyone?”

Jisung shoots forward, turning his body around completely to look at Hyunjin. “No, why? Are you into him?”

Felix perks up at the possibility of his friend liking someone. Hyunjin having a crush on _anyone_ was unheard of. Jisung and Felix had been friends with him since middle school and they had never witnessed a crushing Hyunjin.

“I’m not crushing on him.” Hyunjin pauses to send a glare in Jisung's direction. “I just saw him getting all cozy with Minho so I was wondering.”

Jisung breaks into a wide grin. “This makes sense now.”

“What makes sense?” Hyunjin asks, eyebrows furrowing.

“You like Minho!”

“What? No, I don-”

“Wait, your friend Minho? The dancer?” Felix jumps in to question.

“Yeah, that’s why you asked about him at lunch the other day, isn’t it?” Jisung questions with a knowing tone in his voice.

“No! I just wanted to know who he was.”

“Sounds like a crush to me,” Seungmin adds teasingly, Netflix completely forgotten at this point.

“Guys, I don’t like him. I don’t even know him.”

“But if you did?” Felix raises an eyebrow.

Hyunjin lets out an exasperated sigh and throws himself back further into the couch. “Forget it. Just play the movie.”

**3**

After Hyunjin and Felix finish their performance, Hyunjin decides to take a short break from the intense practices.

Unsurprisingly, he can’t really keep himself away from the practice room.

He arrives at the practice room that he booked at the last minute and mentally curses when he’s met with the sight of Minho deeply focused on his own reflection as he danced along to the music blaring through the speakers.

Minho lets his gaze drift when he spots someone walking into the room through his peripherals.

“Hey, uh, sorry.” Hyunjin stumbles over his words again and Minho stops dancing to look up at the clock above the door.

“Oh, you must’ve booked the practice room after me. I lost track of time, I’m sorry.” Minho apologizes and makes his way over to collect his belongings.

“Oh no, you’re fine!” Hyunjin exclaims. He mentally scolds himself for shouting at the boy. “I mean, I was just coming to practice because I was bored, nothing important. I brought my earphones, so if you wanna stay it wouldn’t bother me too much.”

Minho laughs quietly, bringing his hand up to run through his sweaty hair before responding. “Too much, huh?”

“Not that you usually bother me or anything. We don’t even really know each other, it wouldn’t really be possible for you to bother me. It’s not like we hang out or anyth-” Hyunjin stops speaking when Minho lets out the cutest giggle he has ever heard.

“I was joking, no need to freak out.” The younger boy walks over to the corner after mumbling an embarrassed _oh_ to set down his dance bag. He pulls his Airpods out from the side pocket and sticks one in his ear, waiting for the confirmation noise that they connected to his phone.

“You’re Hyunjin, right?” Minho asks and Hyunjin nods. He shouldn’t really be shocked that Minho knows his name. Hyunjin wasn’t necessarily popular, but people talked about him a lot. Especially other dance students.

There was the fact that he was an extremely talented dancer, but also the fact that he was the dance major pretty boy. Sometimes he felt like people talked about him being attractive more than they talked about him being talented, but he didn’t really mind. He was confident when it came to dance and not too confident when it came to his looks, so a few compliments on his looks never hurt.

“You’re Minho.”

Another breathy giggle from the older boy. “Yeah, that would be me.” He confirms with a smile. Hyunjin takes a moment to question why he ever felt intimidated by the other dancer.

Well, other than the fact that he might just be one of the most talented dancers that Hyunjin had ever laid eyes on.

But other than that, Minho seemed so genuinely kind.

“Well, I’ll take the other side of the room, yeah? You can go back to whatever you were up to, don’t let me bother you.” Hyunjin smiles shyly and scurries over to the opposite side of the room.

The two boys practice separately, both completely engulfed in their own choreographies. Neither of them finds it awkward, though, that the other boy is in the room.

Hyunjin is the first to take a break. This happens a lot when he comes to practice without a purpose. He’ll work really hard for about half an hour, take a break, then repeat.

This time it’s different, though. With Minho in the room, Hyunjin thinks he could be done for the night and just watch the older boy dance.

He walks to the corner where his water bottle is and picks it up before sliding to the ground with his back against the wall. The music playing in the room is muffled and it reminds Hyunjin to remove his Airpods from his ears.

He watches as Minho’s hands travel with grace across his chest, then suddenly reaches forward with both hands before pulling each one back perfectly in time with the beat.

Minho shifts his weight onto the balls of his feet as he lifts his body to perform a spin, keeping his eyes focused on the mirror in front of him not only to keep himself from getting disorientated but to critique his own form as well. He continues by bringing his leg up into an extension and pushing it back down, allowing the movement to continue throughout the note being held in the music.

Hyunjin realizes just how much he loves watching Minho dance. Everything about it was just satisfying to him. The way his shoes managed to squeak in time with the music, the way his shirt clung to certain parts of his body because of the sweat, the way he could hear Minho’s heavy breaths through the quiet moments in the music.

When the music finally ends, Hyunjin can’t help but compliment the older boy. “You’re really good, you know.”

Minho exits whatever alternate universe he was in whenever he danced. He makes eye contact with Hyunjin through the mirror and smiles slightly. Hyunjin can tell it’s not a real one.

“Thanks. I’m still working on it,” Minho speaks through heavy breaths. “I need to work on my turnout, my extensions could be so much better.”

“I thought they were fine.” Hyunjin compliments and Minho finally turns around to face him, a skeptical look on his face. “I’ve been dancing for longer than I can remember and I’m still constantly working on my turnout. If I’m being honest, I’m kind of jealous of yours.” A barrier seems to break at that point.

Minho smiles, with teeth this time, and Hyunjin notes the way it reaches his eyes. “The campus dance legend is jealous of me? I’m flattered.”

Hyunjin groans at the nickname. “Not you, too.”

“I’ve heard all about you, kid.” Minho teases and walks to the spot near Hyunjin where he placed his belongings earlier in the day. Hyunjin nearly panics at the statement, wondering what things Minho had heard about him. “Lucky for you, I don’t like putting people on a pedestal. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and people having such high expectations for me is stressful, to say the least, I wouldn’t want to put that kind of pressure on anyone.”

Hyunjin smiles at Minho’s words. It’s like he understood how Hyunjin felt without him even explaining it.

“You are good, though. I saw you dance the other day with Jisung’s boyfriend, I think.”

“Oh,” Hyunjin says shortly, trying to process the new information. “Thank you.”

Why would Minho come to see him dance? Hyunjin tries to shake the thought away. He’s probably just overthinking once again. Most likely scenario: Minho was coming to practice and saw Jisung in the hall. He stopped to keep him company and saw Hyunjin performing. Right?

Hyunjin stands up from the floor quickly and Minho raises an eyebrow at the action. “Got somewhere to be?”

“Yeah, just studying with my roommate tonight.” Hyunjin lies and doesn’t realize how unconvincing it sounds until the words leave his mouth. He grabs his dance bag from the floor and throws it on his shoulder before making his way towards the door. “Oh! I can relate to the whole perfectionist thing, by the way. And I really appreciate your efforts to keep me humble.”

Minho laughs at the last sentence and Hyunjin can’t stop the smile from spreading across his face as he leaves the practice room.

**3.5**

“Hwang Hyunjin, you have some explaining to do.”

Hyunjin sits up from where he was laying on the couch and glares at his best friend who had just invited himself into his apartment. “Ji, do you ever knock?”

“If you didn’t want me to barge in, you would lock the door.” Jisung justifies himself with a shrug.

Hyunjin rolls his eyes and falls back onto the couch. “What explaining am I supposed to be doing?” Hyunjin questions and Jisung walks over to the couch, letting himself fall on top of the taller boy. Hyunjin huffs and shifts to the side, allowing Jisung to lay beside him on his stomach so that they can make eye contact.

“You and Minho. Practice room. Ring a bell?”

Hyunjin furrows his eyebrows at the question, laughing quietly to himself. “Jisung, we just hung out, if you can even call it that.”

“Exactly!” Jisung shouts, reaching forward to slap his friend’s arm. “Since when do you and Minho hang out?”

“He was practicing in the practice room that I booked and I didn’t want to kick him out. We practiced together. That’s it.” Hyunjin explains dully, but Jisung is already far too excited.

“You didn’t want to kick him out because you have a crush on him.”

“Jisung, you’re being ridiculous.” Hyunjin rolls his eyes. Jisung never gives up that easily, though.

“Hyunjin, I know that might possibly be your first real crush ever. It’s okay to have feelings. Plus, he’s a dancer. He’s perfect for you!”

“I’m focusing on school. I really don’t have time for a relationship.” Jisung sighs exasperatedly and buries his face into the couch. Hyunjin takes it as a win.

But he can’t help but wonder how Jisung knew about the practice room. Did Minho tell him about it? Why would he tell Jisung, though?

Hyunjin, like Jisung, lets a sigh fall from his lips as he turns around and buries his face into the couch as well.

**4**

A few days later, Hyunjin is in the practice room again, this time with an actual assignment to work on.

He was on his fourth hour of practice when he finally decided to take a break. He lays back on the floor, sighing deeply.

Recently, he couldn’t take his mind off of Minho and Jisung’s constant nagging about Hyunjin’s not crush. But what if Jisung was right? Hyunjin honestly had never really liked someone before. Was this the beginning of a crush? Is this what having feelings for someone feels like?

There was a knock at the door and Hyunjin stayed in place on the floor.

“Hey.” A voice spoke quietly as the door inched open and Minho’s head poked through.

Hyunjin shot up into a sitting position. “Hey. What are you doing here?” He spoke slowly and Minho opened the door more, holding his hand out to reveal a bag that Hyunjin could only assume was food.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Minho speaks timidly. It’s the first time Hyunjin has seen him look nervous. “Jisung told me you’ve been here all day and sometimes you forget to eat when you’re in the zone, so I just stopped by with some food. Maybe we can eat together? If you haven’t eaten yet.”

“No, no. I actually lost track of time. Food would be perfect right now.” Hyunjin offers a kind smile, hoping to relax the older boy. “Come in, let’s eat.”

Minho finally steps into the room and takes a seat on the floor next to Hyunjin. “Jisung told me that you have been talking about getting burgers nonstop, so I went off-campus so I could make a special delivery.”

Hyunjin feels himself grow a little too excited at the mention of burgers. He also feels that maybe he’ll have to cut his practice short today. “Minho, you really didn’t have to. Honestly, dining hall food would have been perfectly fine.”

“Well, you’ve been working hard. It’s always nice to treat yourself.” Minho shrugs it off as he begins pulling food out of the bag.

The two ate in near silence for a few minutes. The only sound filling the room being the soft music playing in the background that Hyunjin forgot to switch off earlier, the crinkle of the wrappers of their food, and the occasional chewing noises from both of the boys.

“So,” Hyunjin takes a break from eating his burger all too eagerly. “How long have you been dancing?”

Minho finishes the food that’s in his mouth before responding. “Well, I started taking lessons when I was ten. My parents didn’t think I could get anywhere with dancing, so they said they’d stop paying for lessons when I was sixteen. By then I got a job at the studio and they worked with me so I’d still be able to take classes, so I guess everything kind of worked out for me.” Minho explained. Hyunjin couldn’t help but feel sad for him. He couldn’t imagine not having supportive parents. Minho must’ve been able to see the look of pity on Hyunjin’s face because he just shook his head and smiled widely. “How about you? How long have you been dancing?”

“Literally since before I can even remember,” Hyunjin chuckles. “My mom was actually really excited to have a son that loved to dance. I’m still not too sure why, but I’m not complaining.”

Minho smiles sweetly as Hyunjin speaks. “I’d be excited, too. You’re an amazing dancer, I’m sure she’s proud.”

“You think _I’m_ an amazing dancer?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Minho asks matter-of-factly.

Hyunjin rolls his eyes at the comment. “Well, it just means more coming from you.” Minho raises a curious eyebrow at Hyunjin’s sudden confession. “Oh, come on. You’re literally one of the best dancers here. And before you even try to say that everyone else thinks that’s me, it doesn’t matter. Those people only notice me because they think I’m pretty. If they spent even a fraction of the time they spend gawking at me watching you dance instead, they would all agree with me.”

Minho doesn’t respond for a moment, suddenly finding interest in his hands. “Thank you.” Hyunjin shifts in his spot, not knowing if he should respond or not. It seems as if Minho has more to say and he doesn’t want to cut him short, so he waits. “It means a lot to hear you say that. When my parents told me that dancing wouldn’t get me anywhere, it became something different to me. I feel like I’ve been trying to prove myself for five years. Don’t get me wrong, I love it more than anything. It’s just hard.”

“Yeah, I understand,” Hyunjin mumbled, eyes focused on Minho as he mindlessly drew shapes on the floor with his finger. “You’re a lot different from what I expected.”

The older boy looks up at this. “Yeah? What did you expect?” He asked, curiosity dripping from his voice.

“Well, I was honestly really intimidated by you. That time when you caught me watching you, it literally scared the shit out of me. You were just so confident and didn’t care that someone was watching you practice. I thought you’d be arrogant, but you’re not like that all. At least not yet.”

“Not yet?” Minho questions teasingly with a smile.

“I’m not sure I know you well enough.”

“Well, maybe we’ll have to change that.”

**4.5**

“Okay, so maybe I have an issue.”

This time it was Hyunjin barging into Jisung’s apartment, which was conveniently located two floors below his own. Jisung and Felix were sitting on the floor on opposite sides of the coffee table in the living room, probably studying for some kind of exam.

“What’s up?” Jisung asks, not even bothering to look up from the work in front of him.

Hyunjin joins his two friends in the living room, sitting on the floor as well. He crosses his legs and places his hands in his lap before taking a deep breath. “I think I like Minho.”

Jisung and Felix both look up from their books simultaneously to make eye contact, then break into fits of giggles.

“Well, obviously,” Felix speaks through his giggles and Hyunjin huffs in annoyance. “Jisung’s been saying this for, like, weeks now.”

Jisung’s laughter finally dies down before he speaks. “It’s true. I’m never wrong about these things.”

“Shut up and help me,” Hyunjin groans and slouches in his spot. “Please.”

“Help you with what?”

“What if he doesn’t like me?”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Hyunjin, even I can tell that he probably likes you.” Felix states and Jisung motions towards him as if telling Hyunjin _I told you so_.

“I don’t think he does. He’s just friendly with me.”

Jisung lets another giggle slip past his lips. “Hyunjin, you cannot be serious.” Hyunjin glares at him. “Fine, you want to know something?”

“Know something like what?”

“Minho asked about you yesterday. He was curious about where you were because we go to the dining hall together a lot and when I told him about you practicing and probably forgetting to eat, he immediately wanted to go take you food. And not just any food! He asked me what food you would like the most. He cares about you, he talks about you more than he would if he was just being friendly, he wants to spend time with you, and honestly, he might kill me if he figures out that I told you this so please don’t snitch.” Jisung speaks quickly so Hyunjin doesn’t even have a moment to interrupt if he wanted to. “Unless you two end up together, then I want all of the credit.”

“Seriously, though. You should say something to him.” Felix suggests with an empathetic smile before picking up his pencil and focusing on his work again.

**5**

With the advice from Felix to actually say something to Minho about his feelings, what does Hyunjin do?

Avoid him, of course.

Well, to be fair, he wasn’t actively avoiding him. Just not initiating anything.

So when Minho texts him (because they do that now) asking him if he’s in the dance building, of course, Hyunjin is going to text him back almost instantly telling him what room number he’s in.

He knows that Minho probably texted him because he’s already in the dance building and he’ll probably be right outside the door in less than two minutes, so he tries to make himself look busy despite being stuck in his head.

It’s been nearly two weeks since he’s come to terms with having feelings for Minho and it’s much more difficult than he thought it would be. Most people experience their first love in their early teens, but here’s Hyunjin with his first crush at age nineteen. He really doesn’t know how to deal with feelings, so he has been a nervous, stuttering, staring mess whenever Minho is around.

Minho enters the practice room without knocking while Hyunjin is in the middle of a turn. He brings himself to a stop and smiles at the older boy. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Minho responds.

It’s awkward. Both of the boys can feel the thick tension in the room.

“Can we talk?” Minho speaks calmly despite his racing heart. Hyunjin hates it because he can’t stop fiddling with the edge of his shirt and biting at his lip.

“U-uh, yeah. Of course.” Hyunjin shuffles across the room to hit the pause button on his phone to stop the music coming through the speakers. He walks back to the other side of the room where Minho has made himself comfortable on the floor with his legs crossed. Hyunjin sits across from the older boy and clasps his hands together, hoping that it’ll stop himself from giving away how nervous he is. “So, what’s up?”

“Well, I guess I should just say it, yeah?” Minho questions, but Hyunjin knows it’s rhetorical. “I think I like you.”

“Oh,” Hyunjin speaks through a heavy exhale.

“Oh?”

“I mean, like oh!” Hyunjin tries to correct himself. He realizes that it doesn’t really make much sense and facepalms. “I mean, I think I like you, too.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

The silence is deafening. Minho opens his mouth to speak but then closes it.

He inhales before finally speaking. “Would you want to go on a date with me maybe?”

Hyunjin has to bite the inside of his lip to stop himself from breaking into a wide smile. “I think I would, actually.”

**+1**

It’s two months later when the boys find themselves goofing around in a practice room.

Over time, they discovered that they really did enjoy spending time together this way. Just the two of them in a practice room, dancing to whatever song came on shuffle on whoever’s phone was plugged into the sound system that day. It could be expected from the two boys who always seemed to be practicing.

Minho is the first to fall to the ground. “Break time,” he mumbles with a pout and Hyunjin smiles at how cute the older boy is.

Hyunjin lays on top of Minho, placing his hands gently on both sides of his face. “I have the cutest boyfriend.”

Minho’s pout transforms into a cute smile, the edges of his eyes crinkling. “Well, your cute boyfriend is tired and taking a well-deserved break.”

“Maybe we should call it a day?”

“Oh?” Minho teases with a raised eyebrow. “We have the practice room booked for another two hours. This can’t possibly be Hwang Hyunjin suggesting that we leave early.”

“Oh, shut up.” Hyunjin lays a playful slap on the older boy’s chest.

“You’re slacking off, baby.” Hyunjin’s cheeks heat up at the name and he rolls off of Minho, sitting to face him with his legs crossed.

“Let’s go to yours tonight.” Minho hums in agreement and stands up, reaching his hand out to help Hyunjin up.

Hyunjin takes hold of his hand and gasps softly when Minho tugs on his arm to pull him up from the ground. Minho pulls the taller boy directly into his chest and pouts once again, lifting himself onto his toes. “A kiss?”

“What would I gain from that?” Hyunjin teases, standing on his toes as well to keep the height difference.

“You get to kiss me.”

Hyunjin laughs softly and pretends to think for a moment before dropping down from his toes.

Minho gently grasps the back of Hyunjin’s neck before he can change his mind and tease him again for being shorter. The taller boy smiles at the action and dips his head down to capture his boyfriend’s lips in a gentle kiss.

When they pull away, Minho has a lovesick smile on his face. One that Hyunjin has grown all too used to seeing.

“Okay, let’s get to my apartment. I need cuddles immediately.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!! stay happy and healthy and if you're reading this i love you mwah <3


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